Foreign Policy

The Washington Post reports that Marco Rubio is “making a push this week to burnish his foreign policy credentials and establish gravitas on the world stage ahead of a possible 2016 presidential run.” To this end, he traveled to London to deliver an address on foreign policy and meet British leaders. In sophisticated circles, it is assumed that one can “establish gravitas” by going to a foreign capital and reading »

If you want a good lesson in why the left can never be trusted with political power, especially in foreign policy, look no further than Mother Jones Washington bureau chief Nick Baumann, writing in Slate this week that “Neville Chamberlain Was Right.” What was he right about? Ceding Czechoslovakia to Hitler in 1938: “The maligned British prime minister did what we would want any responsible leader to do.” Do tell, »

Back in the Reagan years, it was the British investor and occasional media baron Sir James Goldsmith who warned, once in 1987 that I recall, “America—You Falter.” Now it is another Commonwealthman who brings the same warning: Conrad Black. Writing in today’s New York Sun, Black hits all the right notes; this is the most salient excerpt: [F]or this administration to redeem its credibility now would require a change of »

Jim Geraghty’s “Morning Jolt” on NRO draws our attention back to what ought to be a career-ending judgment by the egregious Andrew Sullivan, and as such it bears reposting here: Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but »

John wrote here about the prospect of a Liz Cheney challenge to incumbent Republican Senator Mike Enzi. John presents general views on when a challenge to a Republican incumbent should be welcomed by conservatives, and, applying this analysis, he concludes that a Chaney challenge is not welcome. I mostly agree with John’s general analysis, but find myself in the unusual position of disagreeing with him about this specific case. I’m »

Peggy Noonan poses the question today, “Can the Republican Party Recover from Iraq?” If the article is behind the paywall, here’s a relevant sample: Did the Iraq war hurt the GOP? Yes. The war, and the crash of ’08, half killed it. It’s still digging out, and whether it can succeed is an open question. . . It ruined the party’s hard-earned reputation for foreign-affairs probity. They started a war »

What are Rand Paul’s biggest assets as he attempts to convert the GOP into an isolationist party? He has several, and one of them is John McCain. McCain surely is among the names Paul “didn’t need to mention” when he declared before CPAC that “the GOP of old has grown stale and moss-covered.” Paul also didn’t perceive a need to name the GOP policies he believes are stale. Instead, he »

If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em. That may be the philosophy behind the proposed takeover of much of Taiwan’s free press by a mainland Chinese company that is conspicuous for its loyalty to the Communist Party: Americans everywhere should at least be aware of the disaster that’s about to happen to democratic Taiwan’s media market. Taiwan’s most popular and independent media organization, Next Media, is about to be sold »

This morning, I wrote a debate preview post called “Thoughts on Playing to Win Tonight’s Foreign Policy Debate.” I was tempted to call my debate recap post “Thoughts on Playing to Draw Tonight’s Foreign Policy Debate.” For Romney did not attempt to outdebate Obama point by point on foreign policy. And in most instances, he was content to agree with what Obama currently is doing on this or that foreign »

Today is the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s nationally televised address informing the nation of the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba, and his intention to make sure they were removed. The Kennedy glorification industry has pointed to this episode as Exhibit #1 of JFK’s coolness under pressure, etc, etc, and the outcome has always been regarded as a great triumph of American statecraft. To be sure, as »

I expect that tonight’s presidential debate will draw many fewer viewers than the first two. After all, it must compete with Monday Night Football and Game 7 of the National League Championship Series. On the other hand, the first two debates (for different reasons) served up compelling television experiences. Female viewers, at least, may by unwilling to resist the encore, sports viewing opportunities notwithstanding. Foreign policy, tonight’s topic, isn’t foremost »

Yesterday, I suggested that Mitt Romney needs a foreign policy critique of President Obama that ties Obama’s failings in a specific country or situation to his poor instincts and hugely flawed overall approach. Today, Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post performs this task with respect to Syria, which he calls “Obama’s greatest failure.” As Diehl explains: “The president’s handling of Syria. . .exemplifies every weakness in his foreign policy – »

With the presidential race extremely tight, and both sides having pulled out most of the stops, it’s worth considering what the candidates can do at this late date to move the needle. For Obama it will be all about turning in strong debate performances. A win in one or both of the two remaining contests might well restore the race to something like its pre-debate status. Two solid performances, even »

I’ve been sequestered from the real world the last couple of days at a fascinating environmental conference with my pals at PERC in Bozeman, Montana, (featuring, among others, the fabulous Matt Ridley), so I’m behind on the news. I’ll have some exclusive video from the conference in a couple of days after I get home and edit the footage. Meanwhile, I had to be amused at one squib on the »

Fox News has just reported that the US is withdrawing (supposedly temporarily) all its personnel from the US embassy in Tripoli, Libya. What–did they get advance word of a YouTube sequel to The Innocence of Muslims? Are they worried of another imminent “spontaneous” protest with marchers who carry mortars with them? More likely the Clousseaus of Foggy Bottom have figured out they have serious security breach problems in Libya and »

Mitt Romney’s response to the attacks against the U.S. in Egypt and Libya has provoked new interest in the question of where, as a general matter, Romney stands on foreign policy matters. In the pro-Obama MSM, this interest takes the form of arguing that Romney is, hide the children, a “neo-con.” Jason Horowitz of the Washington Post takes this tack in an article called “Romney’s attacks on Obama foreign show »

If reporters had covered Mitt Romney’s visit to Poland, they would have noticed that he got a warm reception there and that he placed himself squarely on his hosts’ side, pointing out that Russia’s “once-promising advances toward a free and open society have faltered.” Lech Walesa essentially endorsed Romney. Today, Poland’s President, Bronislaw Komorowski, went public with his country’s anger toward Barack Obama: The Polish president has accused Barack Obama »